Any web forum is an echo chamber for problems. People tend to come and post when they have a question or problem. We don't get regular status updates from all the people whose machines are fine. So the Internet tends to amplify the problems to seem bigger and/or more widespread than they actually are.

Middle model of what? The MacBook?
There has been some rumbling around the web, and on this site about some of them...but it's important to realize that the unhappy 2% are always the loudest. You're unlikely to find that many posts about how happy everyone is with their MacBook. So to answer your question, no, not too common.

I switched my wife, from PC to a MacBook, ordered the day after they were announced. She loves it so much, she won't let me touch it. She loves it so much, she felt betrayed when its hard drive failed totally, and it took her a few weeks to feel she could trust it again. This despite the fact that her work PC, a Dell, has had two HD failures and two fan replacements in the past 18 months (I don't know what she does to them - in 20 years of using various PCs, I've never had a HD failure). But when I asked why she wasn't complaining about that, she said that's what she expects.

People seem to get more attached to their Macs than to any other PC, so when things go wrong, they get more upset and shout louder. The Dell laptop I have from work has all the issues people complained about with the MBs (that incidentally, my wife's MB never had): heat, whine, noisy fans, on top of being heavy, ugly and slow and costing twice as much. And for some reason I always have to reboot when I disconnect the external monitor because the keyboard buffer gets confused and thinks the shift key is pressed. But I don't complain (much) because, guess what, that's what I expect.

People seem to get more attached to their Macs than to any other PC, so when things go wrong, they get more upset and shout louder.

Click to expand...

Yep, I've found that's true. Maybe it's because we have higher expectations from them? When you work with PC's, error messages and random problems that occur for no viable reasons aren't considered strange, just typical. When something goes wrong with a mac, it's quite distressing.

I am getting really nervous about purchasing the middle model. Is the cracking of the casing, heating issues, discoloring etc, common flaws? I was sooo excited and now I just don't know...

Click to expand...

Don't worry, the flaws from the first CD model (which even then only affected some people) seem to be cured in the C2D version. Personally I've been using the middle C2D model for like 10 weeks or so and hardwarewise I haven't been able to spot one flaw so far. Nothing cracked, temperature seems ok (under load it's a bit noisier than before but the cooling problem is gone), no discoloration either, no dead pixel, no nothing, and believe me, I looked. So be excited, you oughta be, because it's a really nice machine.

Don't worry, the flaws from the first CD model (which even then only affected some people) seem to be cured in the C2D version. Personally I've been using the middle C2D model for like 10 weeks or so and hardwarewise I haven't been able to spot one flaw so far. Nothing cracked, temperature seems ok (under load it's a bit noisier than before but the cooling problem is gone), no discoloration either, no dead pixel, no nothing, and believe me, I looked. So be excited, you oughta be, because it's a really nice machine.

"Best machine I have ever owned. Bar none. No problems whatsoever. There's another data point for you."

Same here--I have the white 2.0, Superdrive, and haven't had even a hint of a problem... Well, okay, about once every other day Airport loses my home network for 5-8 minutes which is annoying (while it can still read my neighbors from 250 yards away!)...

I think the dicoloration issues are over with--haven't heard about that in some time, nor the cracking, over-heating, etc..

I love this notebook--the best ever, "bar none"!

Feel at ease and enjoy it when it comes!

P.S. You could be excited about some fat ugly Dell running Vista--be thankful you're not of that lost ilk...!

Don't be too picky when you initially look for something..I believe every laptop has its flaws. When these flaw are paid too much attention, they become issue which might make you hesitating. Macbook is a fantastic machine dispite its kinds of "problem". I suggest applying kinda protection for your new mb. It's available in Apple store or some third party products on ebay...

I have been using various Mac hardware from when they released OS X. I have been faced with only one problem till now. Whining sound on my powerbook. Since I had APP (which you should have) the support fixed it for me (and it was in India)

3 weeks back, I ordered a refurb macbook and the panel on the LCD had come off (gap between the white thingy and LCD) .. and I got panicky .. but a simple press fixed it

Any web forum is an echo chamber for problems. People tend to come and post when they have a question or problem. We don't get regular status updates from all the people whose machines are fine. So the Internet tends to amplify the problems to seem bigger and/or more widespread than they actually are.

My GF switched from an IBM T40 to a MB 2.0 C2D 1GB RAM about 3 weeks ago and has absolutely fallen in love with her new machine. She has named it "Maggie" and she wears a pretty pink sleeve when out and about (MB not GF). It's very funny to see my non-gadgety GF lovingly stroking her shiny new MacBook.

It has no probs apart from the sharp keyboard edges (apple pleeeeeze do something about this) and that it has started to slow down. The latter was fixed inside 5 mins when Maggie had a date with Onyx.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.